Currently, automakers typically install sensors (or a clip type pin) to detect when a brake pad of a brake of a vehicle needs replacement due to accumulated brake wear. Such sensors do not give any indication or information about how brake pads wear (e.g. over time), nor do they allow to shed light on how driving behaviour degrades brake pads or influences brake pad wear.
Also, automakers may specify a number of travelled kilometres required before a brake needs replacement. However, also such approach does not give any indication or information about how brake pads wear (e.g. over time), nor does it allow to shed light on how driving behaviour degrades brake pads or influences brake pad wear.
Further, in the prior art, there is no brake wear estimation approach which may check if brake pad degradation is caused by the driver's behaviour or by a faulty brake system.
US 2015/0240895 A1 relates to a method for abrasion warning of a brake friction pad of a vehicle. The system may include a friction pad abrasion sensing system (ESC) including a pressure sensor. The ESC system may recognize a speed change in association with a wheel speed sensor of the vehicle, measure a braking pressure using the pressure sensor included in the ESC system when the vehicle is decelerated, calculate and accumulate an abrasion index proportional to the measured braking pressure, and generate and output a notification message when the accumulated abrasion index is more than a predetermined reference value. However, it was recognized by the inventors that a brake pad wear degradation computation can be improved, since the document was recognized to fails considering two factors for brake pad degradation, namely vehicle loading and road slope contributions, e.g. on a downward slope. Further, the document does not show or suggest that the pressure sensor data may be due to a faulty brake system. Also, the document would need additional sensors to be installed and/or access or installation of some kind of electronic control unit.
US 2006/0131950 A1 relates to a brake lining and wear estimation system operating using extant vehicle sensors such as those used to implement height and stability control systems or anti-lock brake systems. Compressed air systems used on heavy duty vehicles to support the operation of various systems, including air brakes, provide pressure monitoring features in various pneumatic circuits, which can be monitored to estimate brake lining application pressure or vehicle loading. Vehicle speed and brake actuation periods are derived from other commonly employed sensors. Data collected from the sensors is supplied to a central, programmable computer over a data bus to generate the heat and wear estimates. However, the document also to fails considering two factors for brake pad degradation, namely vehicle loading and road slope contributions, e.g. on a downward slope, and it cannot show aspects of influence of the driver's behaviour. Further, the document does not show or suggest that an overall detection of a faulty brake system may be performed, but merely appears to consider whether an actuation valve is faulty, thereby neglecting that the brake system as an entire system may be faulty, in that a working brake actuation valve does not infer a faultless brake system.
WO 2005/090821 A1 relates to a sensing system for a disc brake, having an actuator, a lever, one or more adjusting and thrust devices, one or more back plates, receiving brake pads and one or more brake discs. Sensors are provided sensing the position of an actuating stroke and also sensing further features of the disc brake correlated with the stroke. The sensed actuating stroke is compared to a reference value at said sensed further features of the brake. A warning signal is issued if the value of the actuation stroke deviates more than a predetermined value from the reference value. However, the document does not in any way provide a function of brake pad wear estimation, nor does it describe a way as to how the influence of driver behaviour affects brake wear characteristics.
US 2015/0348058 A1 relates to a vehicle computer system configured to communicate with a mobile device, comprising a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with the mobile device. The vehicle computer system also includes a processor in communication with the wireless transceiver. The processor is configured to receive information from one or more vehicle sensors regarding vehicle usage, send the information to an off-board server via the wireless transceiver, wherein the information is utilized in a damages-model regarding the vehicle, and output the information concerning the damages-model to a user display. The document mentions brake pad degradation analysis, but does not give any details on how to efficiently and accurately estimate brake pad degradation in real-time, e.g. for obtaining information on the driver's behaviour and its influence on brake pad degradation, or brake system anomaly or fault detection.